GAME ON!!!

[Oreo]

I'm not going to get much work done today. I'm ready to get to the "X" and see the Wild get demolished by the Flames. I'd love for the Wild to win but I don't have my hopes up.

Anybody else going to a game tonight?

[imouttahere]

1. It's FINALLY here!!! Hockey is Back!!!

Not going to a game, but I'll be frantically flipping channels and have two TV's going, giving the NHL Center Ice a workout.

BTW, NHL Center Ice is having a free preview for the first week of the season, so if you have cable with InDemand, or satellite, you can watch this historic night of NHL action for free.

[Baclava]

32. DirecTV - first week free!!!

Say it LOUD...

UPDATE!!! DirecTv Free Preview October 5-12 on channels 764-774!

[Ravenseye]

2. Well my Pens are in Jersey so no

I'll be on the couch watching the Rangers and Flyers from 7 till 730 and then switching over to the Pens Devils game. Yeah Baby!

[imouttahere]

3. Any plans to attend the Pens home opener, Ravenseye?

I'm always excited about the start of hockey season, but never more than this year. I noticed some games are starting a little later tonight, this will make it easier to keep an eye on several games. I'm definitely checking out Gretzky's first game as coach - I hope the 'nucks crush 'em!!!

[Oreo]

6. I don't usually pull for the Nucks but I agree

Whine Gretzky is going to be crying from the bench. He was a great player but I don't think I've ever seen anybody whine and complain so much when they're on the ice. I'm sure as a coach he'll be 10x worse.

I'm looking forward to see if Crosby or Ovechkin has the bigger season. Also looking forward to seeing Thomas Vanek light the lamp... he was amazing with the Gophers.

[imouttahere]

11. Gretz was great, but what reason could he have ever had....

to whine??? He had Semenko, and later McSorley, protecting his ass all the time.

[Oreo]

15. The last 5 or 6 games I saw him play...

He was bitching and moaning the entire game

[Ravenseye]

14. Crosby has more help it seems

Who is Ovechkin skating with? It can't be anywhere near what Crosby has. That alone will probably help Crosby.

[northzax]

43. well, Alex tossed in two tonight

to start things off, so that ain't bad.

[Ravenseye]

13. No, Unfortunately the Timing Is Bad

Our October was booked solid months ago with visitors, dinners, birthdays, weddings, etc...I tried to talk my wife into it, and came close, but no joy.

We'll see how Gretzky is behind the bench. Just because you're a great player, doesn't mean you'll be a good coach....but if I had to bet i'm not going to bet against the great one.

[imouttahere]

17. Phoenix doesn't have the horses, IMO

or put it this way, their horses are a little old, short of Doan anyway. I don't think it would matter much who coached that team.

[Ravenseye]

19. Agreed

I don't see the Coyotes doing much this year, but not because of Gretzky.

[imouttahere]

23. Right, not likely Gretzky's fault...

Gratton has never lived up to his potential, I doubt Hull scores more than 20 goals with this group, and Cujo is no longer a reliable #1, IMO

There's always the possibility of Doan having a monster year, I suppose

[Telly Savalas]

4. It smells like a waste treatment facility here in Toronto.

Which means the Sens are in town to get their asses kicked.

:woohoo:

[Oreo]

8. Klee and Belak are out

Looks like Jason Allison may actually play.

What would happen if Lindros and Allison collided on the ice? Who would retire first?

[imouttahere]

18. Have they decided whether Belak is a fwd or d-man?

I hope Allison and Lindros do well, just not at the Habs expense.

[Telly Savalas]

20. Leaning towards D-man because of the lack of depth there.

Kaberle and McCabe are a solid top pairing. Khavanov, Klee, and Berg are 3-4ish folks, but Klee is injured. To fill up the last pairing there are only rookies who've had shaky performances in the preseason. So I'm pretty sure Quinn has Belak pegged as a D-man.

[imouttahere]

24. You must not be feeling a lot of confidence....

with that group for a full season. I definitely like that #1 unit, but they desperately need guys like Klee and Belak to do the dirty work. I'm actually feeling pretty good about the Habs blueliners, but I would be a little concerned if I were Leafs fans.

[imouttahere]

12. Ha, ha, ha!!!

That's funny! The Leafs will have their hands full, however. I think Heatley is going to have a big year with his new team.

[Telly Savalas]

21. Honestly, I think we might get whooped tonight.

The Sens have done a pretty good job of beating us when it doesn't count too much. And I will concede that on paper, they and the Flyers are the teams to beat in the East. However, on paper at the beginning of the last season, I don't think too many folks were expecting a Flames-Bolts final.

[imouttahere]

26. Boy, that's for sure, Telly!

It's been quite a while since Forsberg was a "difference-maker"

I really think the teams that didn't make a lot of changes and had a good lineup already, are the ones that will be there at the end of the regular season marathon. For me, that means Ottawa in the east should be considered the favorite. I don't see the Flyers gelling. This is also why I don't understand what the big deal is with Anaheim in the west. Sergei Federov is not a leader, Niedermayer is a great addition but he had guys like HoFers Brodeur and Stevens with him before.

[akarnitz]

5. Dammit! I forgot to ask for the night off!

Let's go, Red Wings!

Good thing there's a radio at the store. I'll be listening to Ken Kal
and Paul Woods between phone calls.

BTW- It's a rare thing when the Wings open the season at the Joe. Usually the Circus is there during opening week. We usually open out west(Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver).

[Oreo]

7. The Wings should crush the Blues

I think the Blues may be worse than the Caps this season.

[imouttahere]

10. I think you're right....

and anytime a team with Tkachuk can go down the tubes, its alright with me. I got a tremendous amount of pleasure out of his suspension for coming to camp out of shape.

[imouttahere]

9. Remember when the Wings opened in L.A.?

I believe it was Gretz' first season, and they thumped the Wings 8-3, if I recall correctly. That was, of course, before the Wings became the Wings that we have known the last 10 years or so.

[Oreo]

16. Manny Fernandez injured

Just officially announced he's out for a few days because of back spasms.

[Telly Savalas]

22. That's not good.

Who's the backup? Is he any good?

[Oreo]

28. Roloson.... they're both starters

Lemaire alternates between them... it's actually worked pretty well the last couple years. They're both going to be free agents after this year so we'l definitely lose one.

[bigwillq]

25. Good for you, Hockey Fans!

Glad the season is finally here.

[1gobluedem]

27. Let's Go Red Wings

clap, clap, clap. Hockeytown is back!

[Oreo]

29. Thanks... we in Hockeytown (Twin Cities) appreciate it

;)

Seriously... did they call it Hockeytown in the early 80's when the Dead Things couldn't win a game to save their lives?

Let the smack talk begin!

[1gobluedem]

30. Detroit has always been Hockeytown as far as I know

They just started playing it up in the 90s. Red Wing hockey has been around for a looooonnnnggg time; one of the original six.

Go Wings!

[Oreo]

31. I'm just messing with you...

Right now I love all the teams... even the Canucks. I'm just glad the long wait is over.

Have fun everybody... I'm off to watch some hockey!

[akarnitz]

40. "Hockeytown" is mid-90's

'70's and early '80's are referred to as "The Darkness Under Harkness". Harkness(first name Ned?) precipitated the fall from glory.

BTW:They looked awfully damned good tonight. Then, again, the Blues look to be a mess this year.

[LisaM]

33. Go Wings!!! HOCKEYTOWN....

Minnesota tried to rip off the "hockeytown" motif by calling Minnesota
"The State of Hockey", but my question is, why did the State of Hockey let their team get away?

I can't root for the Nucks as long as Crawford is coaching them.

[getmeouttahere]

34. Detroit - Hockeytown USA.....

any town in Canada could be hockey town...take your pick

I root for the Wings against anybody but the 6 Canadian-based teams.

[LisaM]

35. Except Vancouver

You can't root for them when they have both Crawford AND Bertuzzi!!!!

[getmeouttahere]

36. I'll assume your problem with Crawford is that he coached...

the Wings arch-rivals, the Avalanche. I don't have that problem. As for Bertuzzi, he served his time, IMO.

[LisaM]

37. No, I think he coaches his players to be thugs

look at Lemieux, look at Bertuzzi (and others) on the Canucks. Lemieux almost killed Kris Draper, and if you don't take my word for it, maybe you will take Don Cherry's.

[akarnitz]

42. Sorry to burst yer bubble, LisaM

But Claude "The Turtle" LeMieux was a dirty p.o.s. in his days with les Habs. Wings only saw him twice a year at that point.

getmeouttahere(or imouttahere- I'm soooo confused) have chatted here, before, about Claude. I actually appreciated Claude up until the Drapes "Incident". I couldn't stand him while the game was on, but I wouldn't have minded it if he was wearing the winged wheel- but that was before the aforementioned "Incident".

The buddies and I hated Chelios while he played for the Hawks. We referred to him as "The Posterboy for Evil". But we didn't mind it when we got him in exchange for Anders Erickson. But there was no suckass player I'd have ever given up for LeMieux after the "Incident".

on edit:LisaM, have you seen any Jenny G bumperstickers yet? We've gotta start gearin' up soon to kick the crap outta Dick "AMWAY Money" DeVos. It's hard enough to see the DeVos and VanAndel names plastered all over here in GR, I don't wanna see 'em plastered all over the rest of the state!

[LisaM]

44. True, and he was nasty wtih New Jersey too

but the Drapes incident happened with Crawford, and Crawford acted exactly the same with the Bertuzzi incident - no apologies, acted affronted it you confronted him with it - I don't like Turtle Lemieux no matter who he played for. After the Drapes incident, Don Cherry would play a video of Cam Neeley beating up Lemieux (from some unrelated game) over and over, and I think that McCarty must have watched that video before the glorious night in 1997 when he took the turtle down.

I don't live in Michigan now - I live in Seattle - but get back frequently and didn't see any new Granholm bumperstickers yet (my parents still have the old one on their car, though.) But thanks for bringing it up because that would be a campaign to contribute to, even from here! I don't like that DeVos clan and I don't think you can start soon enough trying to oust them.

[getmeouttahere]

45. Drapes is one of my favorite players in the league....

I was at a game at Maple Leaf Gardens in '97, Wings & Leafs, and after the game I saw Drapes stop and sign autographs for kids for a good half-hour. The kids were lovin' it! When he first came out of the locker room they were chanting "Drapes, Drapes"

But I won't fault Crawford for the Drapes-Lemieux incident. It isn't Crawford's responsibility to apologize for a player's misbehavior.

[akarnitz]

41. I have a problem w/ that designation

I mean the Wings/Avalanche as archrivals. I still consider the Leafs and Hawks the archrivals. It sucks that the Wings only see the Hawks in the regular season- they miss the other three Original Six teams!
But you already know that.

The other thing that sucks about this schedule is all the games in the three western time zones. The only 7 or 7:30 starts(I'm talking about Sun.-Thurs. night games) are either at home or in Columbus.

[Cush]

38. Caps Beat the Blue Jackets 3 - 2

Ovechkin scores two goals in his very first NHL game (almost had a hat-trick)

[KitchenWitch]

39. Hey, I am liking the new rules so far

Hockey was fast moving before, but it is really riveting now!